One of the keys to communication between two parties (say, client project manager –> vendor project manager) is realizing that words carry baggage. And I do not speak of “baggage” here pejoratively, as we often do, but simply descriptively.
There is the dictionary definition of a word or phrase. Then, there is the meaning and significance embedded in our individual minds, which is attached to subjective ideas, past experiences, images, people, issues, etc. That is the internal definition or metadata (metadata means “information about information”).
These meanings may have quite a bit of emotional freight, or conceptual misunderstanding, attached to them. So in dealing with business communications, NEVER assume that everyone understands words the same way. Define. Discuss. Put it in writing. Do not leave it in the verbal ether, and discover 3 weeks down the road that even though it sounded like there was agreement when words were spoken – there clearly wasn’t.
So, in any business setting, it is vital to define your terms – to agree on the metadata. Here’s my 1-minute take on it:
Assume nothing. Clarify everything. It’ll save an awful lot of grief down the road if you have the metadata sync’ed up at the beginning!
Other one-minute videos:
Successful Vendor Management – Be Realistic
Successful Vendor Management – Communications
Successful Vendor Management – Work for Hire
Successful Vendor Management – One Sentence
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It’s amazing how many arguments get started, and are doomed to stay unresolved, because the parties to the disagreement are really quibbling about very different things.
If we only had better habits about stepping back, and asking the other person what they mean when they use the word _____________.
And the number of doomed business initiatives because of it….frightening! (now, by “doomed,” what I mean is…..)
Steve,
I love the one minute clips. They are well presented and valuable. I am more inclined than ever to explain and define verbally, “metadata”, then put in down on paper and discuss again.
Jim Morris
Thanks, Jim!
Steve this is a keeper. Well done. Philip
Glad you stopped by, Phil! I know we’ve both seen this happen over and over again, right?
Spot on. I have a presentation that I deliver called “Acronym Soup – Working with Microsoft by Speaking their Language” for the exact reason.you point out in your post. Every industry has terms they use to shortcuts communications. Making sure everyone is actually speaking the same language is important.
Jeff, I find that even some of the most common words – ones we’d assume there must be complete agreement on – aren’t always clear among all interest parties. Let alone those acronyms!
Similar this we often project an expectation onto someone…expecting them to respond a certain way to something we say, and we get disappointed when they don’t. We might assume it’s a reflection on us, when it may very possibly be a reflection of something else our client/colleague is dealing with that day. This happened to me the other day when I didn’t realize a colleague had spent the afternoon at a funeral, and assumed their lack of enthusiasm was a reflection of me and the project, when it absolutely was not. Thanks for raising this issue, Steve!
So true, Lisa. Thanks for reading and contributing!
In Jason Fried’s monthly column in Inc., he talks about how he’s taking Ruby on Rails classes to learn how to communicate with his programmers. I think that’s a really interesting thing to do – both from leadership and communications perspectives. It would benefit all of us to understand the other person’s perspective.
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